A sea change for radio as CBS looks to sell

1of3University of Houston graduate Robert Flores has left the "SportsCenter" set at ESPN to become an anchor with MLB Network and NHL Network.Photo: Joe Faraoni, Staff

2of3CBS broadcasters, left to right, play-by-play commentator Jim Nantz, along with game analyses Grant Hill and Bill Raftery work before NCAA college basketball game during the semifinals of the Big Ten Conference tournament in Indianapolis, Saturday, March 12, 2016. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)Photo: Michael Conroy, STF

3of3Texas A&M players cheer as they watch the television broadcast of their selection in the NCAA college basketball tournament Sunday, March 13, 2016, in Nashville, Tenn. Texas A&M was selected as the third seed in the West Regional in Oklahoma City and will play Green Bay. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)Photo: Mark Humphrey, STF

Even though industry scuttlebutt has held for years that CBS eventually would get out of the radio business, Tuesday's announcement that the company will begin talks to sell or spin off its 117 stations in 26 markets, including six stations each in Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth, still hit the business as a bolt from the blue.

The six CBS stations in Houston last year generated $50.4 million of the $268 million in advertising revenue brought in by the seven major radio groups in Houston, second to iHeart's $89.8 million. That was down from $56.1 million in 2014 and, digging through some old files, from about $66 million in 2008 before the economy headed south. KILT-FM, at nearly $12 million, and KILT-AM, at just over $11 million, led the group.

Although its Houston sports station is on the AM band, CBS Radio has been one of the primary movers in the migration of sports talk to FM on such blowtorches as WFAN in New York, WIP in Philadelphia, WSCR in Chicago, WJZ in Baltimore, WBZ in Boston, WXYT in Detroit, KDKA in Pittsburgh and WJFK in Washington, D.C. It also has some of the strongest news stations in the country, including KNX in Los Angeles, KMOX in St. Louis, WINS in New York and WBBM in Chicago.

It's difficult to forecast what could happen to the company as a whole, let alone the Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth clusters. Both Texas cities, however, reflect the difficulty that would be involved in a wholesale purchase of CBS Radio by a single buyer.

Radio observers have speculated for years that Cumulus Media, whose only Houston station is KRBE (104.1 FM), would be a potential buyer in Houston should CBS choose to sell its local stations. But federal regulations on market shares (let alone financial constraints) would make it difficult for Cumulus to swallow the entire CBS Houston cluster while also keeping KRBE, not to mention the format overlaps with KKHH.

Even if it could make a deal in Houston, Cumulus already owns seven stations in Dallas-Fort Worth and under no circumstances could absorb the six CBS Radio stations there without divesting itself of stations it already owns or some of the CBS stations.

If these two markets are any indication, the simplest option might be to spin off the division as a whole, although CBS could sell stations piece by piece or market by market to a number of buyers.

There's no particular sense of heritage associated with the group now owned in Houston by CBS; old-timers will remember KLOL as Houston's album-rock giant of the 1970s and '80s and KILT as a McLendon Top 40 station in the 1960s.

But it's still hard to believe that the CBS Radio band name that dates back to 1928 will either disappear or be spun off from the parent company that helped create network radio before World War II.

Generations of listeners grew up with CBS Radio, as they did with the company's former corporate sibling, Columbia Records, which is now owned by Sony. But times change, don't they?

ESPN ex moves to MLB, NHL

After a decade at ESPN, Dobie High School and University of Houston graduate Robert Flores can now hone in on two sports with his move from Bristol, Conn., to Secaucus, N.J., where he began his new job Monday as an anchor with MLB Network and NHL Network.

Flores will debut next Monday on MLB Network's "MLB Tonight" and on Wednesday, March 23, with NHL Network's "NHL Tonight." He said he will alternate between baseball days and hockey days on the air in addition to contributing to MLB.com and to the Sports On Earth website.

MLB Network executives Rob McGlarry and Dave Patterson first approached Flores last fall about leaving ESPN, He said he received offers from other networks, "but this was the one that got the most traction and was the best fit."

"ESPN was very good to me, and I'll always be grateful for the opportunity gave me," he added. "It's like the athletes we cover. Sometimes change is needed and you have to go to a place where you're wanted the most, and this is the place for me."

Hockey may seem to be a stretch for a Houston native, but Flores said he grew up watching not only the Astros at the Astrodome but the original WHL Aeros at the Sam Houston Coliseum and, later, the Summit.

Flores split his duties at ESPN among "SportsCenter" hosting stints, studio segments on college football Saturdays and one of his favorites, ESPN's Sunday morning fantasy football show. The latter, he said, will be among the things he misses most, but who's to say there won't be a similar project in his future at either network.

"We've talked about some big picture things," he said. "I love social media and the digital side of the business – podcasts, radio, etc. – and I have a chance to be part of that here. That was a big factor, the total package and the chance to do something beyond the anchor desk."

Four DVRs, no waiting

Tale of the tape on CBS' much-maligned NCAA Tournament Selection Show, which began at 4:30 p.m. CDT Sunday: No. 1 seeds at 4:42, South bracket beginning at 4:50, West bracket at 5:09, East bracket at 5:32 (more than an hour into the show), Midwest bracket at 5:43. Not good. … Contrary to what you may have seen on Twitter, ESPN's Longhorn Network did not scrub a replay of a Texas-Texas A&M baseball game that the Aggies won on a walk-off homer in the ninth. The game was produced by Texas A&M for the SEC Network's digital site and was never scheduled to air on LHN, notwithstanding the on-screen program guide shown on AT&T U-verse. … Dish has filed suit in a Chicago federal court against NBC, alleging breach of contract in their carriage dispute. The company said it expects to file for binding arbitration to settle the issue. … Tony Siragusa will not return to Fox Sports' NFL games next season, according to multiple media reports. … If you missed it, President Obama's NCAA Tournament Final Four, as selected for Andy Katz of ESPN, are Kansas, Michigan State, North Carolina and Texas A&M. His women's Final Four, as disclosed to Rebecca Lobo, is Connecticut, Florida State, Notre Dame and South Carolina. … Based on some Nielsen numbers-crunching from Sports Business Daily, Fox Sports 1 was the only network to show an audience uptick this season for men's college basketball. CBS tops the list with an average audience of 1.47 million viewers, but that was down from 1.64 million last year, ESPN dropped to 1.23 million from 1.37 million a year ago. FS1 went from 100,000 to 109,000. … Texas A&M is one of four schools featured in the CBS/Turner series "March Madness Confidential" series that will air on CBS and Turner networks and at NCAA.com during the NCAA Tournament.

David Barron reports on sports media, college football and Olympic sports for the Houston Chronicle. He joined the Houston Chronicle in 1990 after stints at the Dallas bureau of United Press International (1984-90), the Waco Tribune-Herald (1978-84) and the Tyler Morning Telegraph (1975-78). He has been a contributor to Dave Campbell's Texas Football since 1980, serving as high school editor from 1984 through 2000 and as Managing Editor from 1990 through 2004. A native of Tyler, he is a graduate of John Tyler High School, Tyler Junior College and The University of Texas at Austin.

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